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Feminism’s reemergence in the mainstream has forced businesses and media organizations to be aware of and even to promote gender issues relevant to the marketing of their products, services, and brands, especially those that target young female consumers. Business scholarship has offered marketing guidelines for gendered representations, but most studies have occurred in adult consumption spheres, with less attention paid to feminist messaging in youth media. Through a thematic analysis of 17 Disney and Pixar animated films produced between 1989 and 2018 and featuring a female lead or colead, this study offers a blueprint that could help businesses develop feminist messaging in marketing communications and media directed at young female consumers. While businesses might understand that promoting positive gendered messages is necessary in the current era of heightened feminist awareness, few firms actually do it. And for the companies that do it, integrating feminist messages in a way that does not alienate mainstream consumers might prove challenging. This study’s framework, which emerges from an empirical study of Disney and Pixar media, helps reduce some of these creative barriers.
Schiele et al. (2020) studied this question.